Underground Ireland

One that really fascinates me, although perhaps a little morbid: There's an old graveyard known as Kilquane near a Cork town called Knockraha, where during the war of independence and later the civil war, the IRA used a secret underground vault as a sort of death row holding cell (in other words, if you were going to be shot by the local brigade, they'd lock you in there with all of the other 'condemned' until they were ready to do it). They called it "Sing Sing Prison".
The vault is still there today, although it's been built around recently with new graves (where previously it was half hidden under some grass and set back a bit from the actual graveyard) so in my view it's not as spooky as it once was.

I've never actually been but I'd be very interested to go and see it at some stage.

What it looked like before the graveyard was extended

What it looks like now

Personally I always feel building up sites like that and making them more "official" tourist attractions (railings, plaques etc) sort of ruins them. The photos of what it originally looked like paint a much eerier picture than the more recent ones where it's been "museumised". But still definitely worth a look I'd say.

starn wrote: »

Hi,
I'am in the process of writting a piece on hidden Ireland. So far I've visited the CIE tunnell under the Pheonix Park and spent a charming day wondering Dublins sewers. But thats been pretty much it. So Im looking for help uncovering some more hidden gems. I've spent some time in the catacombs underneath both Paris and Rome. While obiously not expecting to find anything like that underneath Dublin. I some there must be more beneath it then just a train tunnell

In Dublin, Christchurch Cathedral has catacombs and do does St,Michan's, I think. Some of the Irish gentry houses had subterannean passages. There is one beneath Cullane House in Clare but it is bricked up now, I think. Watching this thread with interest!

There is a tunnel,maybe a few hundred metres long in the powerscourt estate in co Wicklow,many moons ago as a kid we camped up there with the scouts.havnt a clue what it was originally used for though.